Writings and correspondence of the Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, including drafts of articles and books, correspondence
with John G. Wright and other leaders of the Socialist Workers Party of the United States, and typed copies of correspondence
with V. I. Lenin; correspondence and reports of secretaries of Trotsky and leaders of the Socialist Workers Party, relating
especially to efforts to safeguard Trotsky and to his assassination; records of the American Committee for the Defense of
Leon Trotsky and of the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials; correspondence
and writings of Nataliia Sedova Trotskaia and of Lev Sedov; and published and unpublished material relating to Trotsky. Assembled
from records of the Socialist Workers Party and from papers of Wright and other party leaders. Also includes detailed summaries
of correspondence in the Trotsky Papers at Harvard University. Boxes 1-45 also available on microfilm (50 reels). Phonotape
cassette dub of sound recordings also available.

Background

The Leon Trotsky Collection of material by and about the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was assembled by the
Socialist Workers Party and its affiliate, the Library of Social History. Originating as the Communist League of America in
1928, the Socialist Workers Party adopted its present name and form of existence in 1938. As the American section of the Fourth
International movement led by Trotsky, it maintained close contact with him, especially during the period of his exile in
Mexico, from January 1937 until his assassination in August 1940. The collection was housed in the Library of Social History
in New York City until it was acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1992.